Just before Thanksgiving, I visited the University of Central Arkansas where my good friend Michael Hancock and the Wind Ensemble were recording Fantasia on a Theme of Robert Schumann.
The students did a fantastic job with this chamber work, and I know the recording is going to be great! The engineering and production team of Vince Kenney and Brad Genervo brought excellent experience, ears, and care to the session. Michael Hancock brought the music to life with great sensitivity and musicality - it was truly a pleasure to be part of the experience.
I also had the chance to teach composition lessons to a number of UCA students who study with Dr. Paul Dickinson (a fellow Eastman alum!). It was really fun to work with these students and offer some feedback.
NYSCA Grant for Collaboration with fivebyfive!
I’m excited to share that fivebyfive and I have been awarded a grant from the NY Council on the Arts to support a new commission! The piece will be titled “Parallel Realities” and will be scored for fivebyfive’s unique instrumentation of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, bass, and piano. The work will be inspired by concepts of quantum mechanics and will be premiered by fivebyfive in the fall of 2025.
Recording Released! "And the Cities Rise Like Dreams" Available Now
On October 10, 2024, the University of Nevada Reno released “Celebrating 150 Years of the University of Nevada Reno,” an album that includes And the Cities Rise Like Dreams.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music
"Ancient Light" Named to Bandworld Magazine Top 100
Ancient Light was recently named to the 2024 Bandworld Magazine Top 100!
The Western International Band Clinic listened to all of the new band music in print for 2024-25 as well as some important reissues. They used a special set of criteria to select 100 compositions for sight-reading sessions by the Western International Band Clinic Directors' Band on Nov. 23 & 24 in Seattle, Washington and then with the American Band College Directors' Band in June 2025.
New Saxophone + Piano Consortium - "Scenes from Veneto"
I’m excited to announce a consortium for a new work for tenor saxophone and piano, “Scenes from Veneto.” The piece is inspired by the beautiful Veneto region of Italy, and is set in a series of short movements like Paule Maurice’s “Tableaux de Provence.” See all the details and sign up HERE.
"And the Cities Rise Like Dreams" Premiered in Nevada
This past weekend, the University of Nevada Concert Choir, Chamber Chorale, and Wind Ensemble premiered “And the Cities Rise Like Dreams,” a new 14-minute work commissioned to celebrate the university’s 150th anniversary.
I was able to be on campus for several days leading up to the premiere, and visited several rehearsals and provided feedback. It was a stunning performance in front of a packed concert hall, and I’m grateful to all those who helped bring the music to life! The day after the performance, we went into the studio and recorded the piece (the recording will be released this fall).
I was also able to work with the Nevada Concert Winds as they prepared for a concert of their own a couple of days prior to the premiere. They graciously included two works of mine on their program: Into the Silent Land and American Nocturne.
It was a fantastic visit!
"New England Folk Songs" on Soprano Natalie Mann's New Album on Albany Records
Soprano Natalie Mann has recently released a new album of songs, “Rendezvous in the Salon” on Albany Records. Included on the album is my second song cycle, “New England Folk Songs,” a collection of songs that describe the seasons in New England. The texts for the songs are written by Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, and Sarah Orne Jewett.
Listen on YouTube
Listen on Spotify
Two Original Chorales Included in New Book: "Chorales From An Inclusive Repertoire"
As the Midwest Clinic 2023 begins, I’m excited to announce the release of a new book “Chorales from an Inclusive Repertoire” published by Murphy Music Press, that includes two original chorales of mine.
"Ceremony of Mirrors" presents a theme in major and the relative minor, and the theme has parts that are mirror and palindrome-like. "Suspended in a Dream" uses a number of suspensions throughout - a sound that I remember captivating me as a young saxophonist. I hope that these small pieces will be helpful to directors and their student musicians!
Explore the book and listen to the chorales here.
From Murphy Music Press:
For Midwest 2023, we are excited to announce the release of the second installment in our Expanding the Canon Series: Chorales From An Inclusive Repertoire. This new resource is a fresh entry of 14 original works into the chorale idiom. This resource allows not only for much needed musical growth for the medium, but also an important step in diversifying the voices present in the chorale space, which has yet to be well explored.
Edited by Eric Laprade, the resource is scored in SATB format, with part books provided in the typical band transpositions, so that each instrument has the option of performing the S,A,T, or B part. Serving as either a supplement to your concert performances of works from this group of composers, or as an entry point for introducing these voices to your students, the fourteen chorales are presented as follows:
Chorale 1, Cuyahoga by Nicole Piunno
Chorale 2, Suspended in a Dream by Steve Danyew
Chorale 3, Evening River by Cait Nishimura
Chorale 4, Lullaby (Jenn's Version) by Jennifer Jolley
Chorale 5, Indigo Dusk by Sally Lamb McCune
Chorale 6, Cloud Dreams by Kevin Day
Chorale 7, Como Bach by Giovanni Santos
Chorale 8, Ceremony of Mirrors by Steve Danyew
Chorale 9, Recollection by Lindsay Bronnenkant
Chorale 10, Orange Dawn by Sally Lamb McCune
Chorale 11, Scioto by Nicole Piunno
Chorale 12, Flow by Viet Cuong
Chorale 13, A Song for David Dickerson by Giovanni Santos
Chorale 14, Majestic Wonder by Kevin Day
"American Nocturne" Named Finalist for 2023 Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Award
I’m honored that “American Nocturne” was named a finalist for this year’s American Bandmasters Association Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Award. Congrats to fellow finalist James David and this year’s winner, Andrew David Perkins.
I’m grateful to Alan Mills and the Rocky Mountain Commissioning Project for commissioning “American Nocturne” and for bringing the work to life. Thank you also to the consortium members listed below!
Commissioned by the Rocky Mountain Commissioning Project
for the 14th Annual Colorado State University Pueblo Festival of Winds
Liz Connor Kodadek, Apex Friendship High School, NC
Paula A Crider, Austin, TX
George and Colleen Eastman, Brighton, CO
Neil Guy, Cherokee Trail High School, CO
Dan and Kari Bell, Colorado Springs, CO
Alan W. Mills, Colorado State University Pueblo
Chad Dempsey, Edinburg North High School Band, TX
Ryan Lipscomb, Edwardsville High School, IL
Chris Barnes and Jake Opperman, Fond du Lac High School, WI
Shaun R. Popp, Henderson State University
Timothy McGarvey, Houghton College
Michael Berning, Kettering City Schools, Kettering, OH
Ted Ferrucci, Los Altos High School Bands, CA
Jackie Townsend, Lubbock Christian University
Jon Conrad, McLennan College, Waco, Texas
David Kish, Metropolitan State University of Denver
Doris Doyon, Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA
Adrian Holton, National Concert Band of America
Andrew Killgore, North Carolina
Raleigh "Butch" Eversole, Palmer Ridge High School, Monument, CO
David M. Blon, Purdue University
Amanda Kaus, Rochester Century High School, MN
Joseph Higgins, Rowan University
Jonathan Helmick, Slippery Rock University
Robert M. Schwartz, Southeastern Louisiana University
Jim Blankenship and Micah Ewing, Sycamore High School, OH
Carter Biggers, Texas Woman’s University
Timothy Kaiser, Tucson, AZ
Bill Tiberio, University of Rochester
John Oelrich, University of Tennessee at Martin
Justin Davis, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Alex Kaminsky, VanderCook College of Music NBA Collegiate Chapter
Michael Zens, Whitnall High School, WI
Edward F. Protzman, William Mason High School, OH
Patrick K. Carney, Winter Haven, FL
Bradley Faryniarz, Woodhaven High School Bands, MI
Premiere Performance
Colorado State University Pueblo
Hoag Recital Hall
Saturday February 12, 2022
CSU Pueblo Wind Ensemble
Alan W. Mills, Conductor
"Twas the Night Before Christmas" for Orchestra, Band & Choir to Premiere in December!
Earlier this year I began a commission project for Fond du Lac High School in Wisconsin who is celebrating their 20th anniversary of a holiday prism concert titled “Night of Silence.” They asked me compose a finale for the concert, a work that would combine the three different ensembles that perform on the prism concert: orchestra, band, and choir.
After thinking about possible texts and concepts for the work, I eventually had the idea to create a setting of the iconic poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” (Well, actually, the title of the poem is “A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, but we commonly know it by the poem’s opening line, “Twas the Night Before Christmas…”) I was surprised to find relatively few choral settings of this famous poem - there are plenty of versions where the poem is narrated, but few where the words are sung.
The work begins as a sort of lullaby, reflecting the early lines in the poem that speak of everyone being “all tucked in their beds.” But once St. Nick is spotted on the front lawn, the work moves into a blues, with a fun and exciting energy that infuses the rest of the piece. I think it will be fun to perform and to listen to, and I look forward to working with the students as they prepare for the premiere on December 8th!
I also plan to release multiple versions of the piece in 2024: I’m planning to release an SATB + Piano version, an SATB + Orchestra version, an SATB + Band version, and the version that will be premiered in Fond du Lac - SATB + Orchestra (with additional saxophones and euphonium).
More soon!